Our Midfield

[RJK Tiger]

Our midfield is possibly in the bottom 5 - Cotch, Dion & Edwards sized holes are too big to cover over. Commit to kids and grow, or be stuck in the dirt for a decade. The options were obvious last pre-season & after round 1 i think that truth is more apparent. If the club legit wanted to go "for 1 more", we needed to trade for Tom Mitchell and risk our future. We didn't - so we need to name a squad accordingly

It was pants tonight without Walsh - I am not sure if that can be stressed enough. The side could still be very competitive, but i just think as soon as Dion went down our side went from being top 6 to bottom 6. It's where we are & we need to hope Graham, RCD, Sonsie can fill the void

 

[RJK Tiger]

Yes, I would.

You're either tanking, or going for it. That should be how we see each season. Cerra is a gun now. Bona fide gun. Gibcus and Sonie may turn out to be, but when they do, Martin, Grimes, Cotchin, Riewoldt, Lynch, Edwards, Nank, will be gone.

I agree with this sentiment - however i wouldn't do it as i wouldn't "go for it". I think we are prime to do a super quick rebuild if we commit to it. Take 2 years of shit to be elite again by 2025. We basically recruit a Clayton Oliver, Bont or Walsh - we are right back in it. If we wait too long, then we fall into the abyss as the age of the group becomes disjointed. This is the year to tank hard with youth. Keeping Cotch & Jack on was a mistake. I said it solidly last year. Also said we should have considered trading Dion for a early 2nd rounder, and tbh i still think that would have been the smart choice.

You are either going for it or you aren't. Middling is for suckers like Richmond of the 90's-2000s

 

[living_in_syd]

Seems like the small forward gameplan has gone out the window along with our quality assistants coaches

 

[Nebular]

View attachment 1346920


We can add Carlton to this list. Rebuild is on, if we wanted to "go again" would have traded for a decent mid or two. For all the media and pump up we did in pre-season that game against the blues was a disgrace.

Our midfield will get smoked in most games now Cotch, Edwards, Dion, lambert are cooked. Graham, Ross and the next wave of Mids are VFL "top up" tier level players.

Laughing in the pre-season, how about now Tiger71 tigerfan1961 Nebular Dr Tigris ???

Lol. Yes. We are 1 game into the season mate.

 

[TigerImposter]

Unfortunately it’s not only our midfield the problem as our FL and defence with similar issues of ageing , lack of pace and even undersized.
The warning signals were there last year and we really did nothing about it in terms of tapping our legends on the shoulder and trading in some new names. Tarrant was another poor trade as he fits our pensioner plan to success.

 

[fargothegreat]

It's hard because it's tempting to go out and recruit a couple of ready made mids with the view that strengthening that area is all we need to do to compete again. But when has that ever worked for anyone else after a period of success??

I don't want us to be the next Geelong. I'd rather we took a bit of pain now and built again for a couple of years. It won't have to be a full rebuild because we've already got some pretty bloody good young players in Balta, Bolton, Baker and Gibcus, plus a few other kids who haven't had a chance yet.

 

[rfctigerarmy]

Should have recruited a couple of young (20-23yo) inside mids over the off-season so even if it's not working right now, we have more to play with in the future.

Instead we got more defenders in preperation for the barrage out of the middle by the opposition.

Surely we can add players like Short and Baker into the midfield rotation. It just seems like the tried and tested thing isn't working, and we need to change the mix

 

[nineteen eighty]

Our game plan when we won our flags was suited to the personnel we had in the middle. Great runners, combatants, etc. But average skills. But they could get away with it because our game plan at the time didn’t require highly skilled mids. The game plan has changed and our mids are the same. And older. And we get beaten at the contest. And and and …

Prestia always getting injured is also killing us. He is the barometer for our mids.

And ffs, get Aarts out of there!!! I know he tries but he’s a gun VAFA player at best.

Could be a long year. It’s been a great ride and I love the players and the club. I’ll suck it up and see how we go with some of our youth.

 

[Goshka]

Dusty - half the player he was
Cotchin - cooked
Edwards - cooked
Lambert - cooked
Prestia - injury prone, should trade him
Graham - sh*t
Ross - sh*t
Bolton - small and is more damaging up forward
RCD - can’t run out games or get a game

The worst midfield in the comp.

 

[Lord of the Wings]

Dusty - half the player he was
Cotchin - cooked
Edwards - cooked
Lambert - cooked
Prestia - injury prone, should trade him
Graham - sh*t
Ross - sh*t
Bolton - small and is more damaging up forward
RCD - can’t run out games or get a game

The worst midfield in the comp.

Without Prestia on the park we do have the worst midfield going around.

Graham is so overrated by the fanboys its not funny. He is a slow plodder than gets smashed by half decent players.

No one is trading for Prestia. Big coin and too injury prone. We can thank Fartley for him and Lynch.

Lynch and Prestia's contracts are now going to hold us back from a timely rebuild.

 

[DickieKnee]

It's hard because it's tempting to go out and recruit a couple of ready made mids with the view that strengthening that area is all we need to do to compete again. But when has that ever worked for anyone else after a period of success??

I don't want us to be the next Geelong. I'd rather we took a bit of pain now and built again for a couple of years. It won't have to be a full rebuild because we've already got some pretty bloody good young players in Balta, Bolton, Baker and Gibcus, plus a few other kids who haven't had a chance yet.

Totally agree, I would prefer we invest in the draft, look at the teams who have tried staying up by topping up with established players, Geelong and Hawks. Hawks was a complete fail and Cats have been making finals but not capable of snaring a flag.

 

[GastevsBeard]

Without Prestia on the park we do have the worst midfield going around.

Graham is so overrated by the fanboys its not funny. He is a slow plodder than gets smashed by half decent players.

No one is trading for Prestia. Big coin and too injury prone. We can thank Fartley for him and Lynch.

Lynch and Prestia's contracts are now going to hold us back from a timely rebuild.

No way we win 3 flags without the contributions of these two. As others point out, this is the price of success... you have to mortgage your future

What I can't understand is given our

• elite defense
• fairly elite forward set-up

Why we wouldn't have moneyballed some crash and bash midfielders (Dunstan?), allowing Dusty to do his thing, & even Cotchin to be more a role-player using his smarts around the contest

 

[Waca Jr]

Would you give up Gibcus & Sonsie + $700k for Adam Cerra ?

I certainly wouldnt

Nor would I

 

[bc27]

We couldn't afford what the Blues were willing to pay. Cap is still pretty tight until a few more retire, and once they do we're probably better off hitting the draft anyway.

Could’ve back ended it and got him. He was keen to play for tigers but we didn’t think he was worth the price.

 

[cairo tiger]

we diagnose a need and then recuruit short people. stupid really.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

It's hard because it's tempting to go out and recruit a couple of ready made mids with the view that strengthening that area is all we need to do to compete again. But when has that ever worked for anyone else after a period of success??

I don't want us to be the next Geelong. I'd rather we took a bit of pain now and built again for a couple of years. It won't have to be a full rebuild because we've already got some pretty bloody good young players in Balta, Bolton, Baker and Gibcus, plus a few other kids who haven't had a chance yet.

This is spot on. You want quality young recruits or no recruits at all. Take the pain as you say, get some better draft picks and hopefully pick up a ready made guy like a Tom Green, but if not, just go to the draft. 2-3 years of adding a couple of good youngsters each draft and our prospects from 2025-26 should look bright. Under current rules you need those big bodied inside midfielders in their prime or you cannot compete.

 

[Goshka]

Without Prestia on the park we do have the worst midfield going around.

Graham is so overrated by the fanboys its not funny. He is a slow plodder than gets smashed by half decent players.

No one is trading for Prestia. Big coin and too injury prone. We can thank Fartley for him and Lynch.

Lynch and Prestia's contracts are now going to hold us back from a timely rebuild.

Graham is dog shit. Him, Castagna and Aarts are classic Dimma battlers. Just absolutely woeful footballers who at their best were merely role players that were carried by a brilliant system. They are now being exposed as VFL players (mind you, I think Castagna would be out of his depth at VFL level he is that bad). How Castagna got two years is f***ing mind boggling. Whoever made that call needs to be sacked. Putrid list management.

Graham I would accept a pick in the 40s for if he wanted to head back to SA. He’s borderline delist worthy as well if we are serious. Aarts should never have been put on an AFL list. There is some serious incompetence at our football club given that he and Castagna are not only both on our list still, but both playing. Graham should not play unless we are ravaged by injuries.

 

[nineteen eighty]

Without Prestia on the park we do have the worst midfield going around.

Graham is so overrated by the fanboys its not funny. He is a slow plodder than gets smashed by half decent players.

No one is trading for Prestia. Big coin and too injury prone. We can thank Fartley for him and Lynch.

Lynch and Prestia's contracts are now going to hold us back from a timely rebuild.

You cannot be serious!!! Are you listening to yourself?? We won multiple flags because of Prestia and Lynch.

FFS this takes me back to when this board was screaming that Richo should be moved on. Wow…just wow. These blokes have given us so much enjoyment. Ok we may not be so good this year. No excuse to not think though.

Cheers

 

[living_in_syd]

What I want to know is why did spend all preseason to come up with 2 rucks, 3 tall forwards and no forward pressure let alone recruiting no midfielders?

I truly worried we lost all our quality assistants and we just dont have any strategy anymore

If you watched the dees/dogs game, they zone off the mark in the back half but we still man it like statue. Cmon this rule has been here for a year and still dont know how to combat it.

 

[juss]

Graham is dog sh*t. Him, Castagna and Aarts are classic Dimma battlers. Just absolutely woeful footballers who at their best were merely role players that were carried by a brilliant system. They are now being exposed as VFL players (mind you, I think Castagna would be out of his depth at VFL level he is that bad). How Castagna got two years is f***ing mind boggling. Whoever made that call needs to be sacked. Putrid list management.

Graham I would accept a pick in the 40s for if he wanted to head back to SA. He’s borderline delist worthy as well if we are serious. Aarts should never have been put on an AFL list. There is some serious incompetence at our football club given that he and Castagna are not only both on our list still, but both playing. Graham should not play unless we are ravaged by injuries.

Of the 3, Castagna was the only one last night who had a respectable game.
Graham was poor, Aarts was garbage (Aarts should be an instant delist and never play an AFL game again).

 

[Marcel Proust]

I have a solution Adam Cerra, oh that's right we had him on a platter but didn't think he was good enough. He made our mids look like bags of manure, single handedly smashed us. Good on him, he would have been a great addition.

Cerra looked quality. Tom Mitchell sounding pretty good right now too

 

[Goshka]

Of the 3, Castagna was the only one last night who had a respectable game.
Graham was poor, Aarts was garbage (Aarts should be an instant delist and never play an AFL game again).

Castagna:

0 goals, 0 tackles.

What did he do exactly?

 

[Marcel Proust]

Castagna:

0 goals, 0 tackles.

What did he do exactly?

Took heaps of great marks tbf

 

[Goshka]

Cerra looked quality. Tom Mitchell sounding pretty good right now too

Glad you’ve come around to Mitchell and admitted you were wrong. Takes a grown up to do that.

 

[Goshka]

Took heaps of great marks tbf

Lol @ “heaps” and “great”.